Finished KINGDOM OF BONES

 

James Rollins' Sigma Force books are a combination of high action, science (and history), and great characters.  I loved Benji (on the low end of the Spectrum) as well as the other new characters, heroes heroine, and villains...  The subject matter of plague is fascinating and I can count on the reliable satisfying ending.  I also loved the setting of central Congo.  Thank you, Mr. Rollins.  I'll be back in your universe again soon. 

I am now about to start The Water Dancer,  set in this country during slavery, a subject I return to again and again.  The book has great reviews.

Finished QUITE A YEAR FOR PLUMS

 

I am not at all sure how this got into my "to read" pile.  It reads like Garrison Keeler, who I found boring and this the same.  I do like quirky characters but I also like something to happen in the books I read.  I read it all the wait through thinking these characters must do something, but I was disappointed..

I'm now about to start James Rollins' Kingdon of Bones.  I don't quite believe I have read 15 of these Sigma Force books.  Time flies while you are having fun.  I know something will happen in this book!

Finished THE ENCHANTMENT EMPORIUM

 

Imagine a large family of magical persons (witches?).  A young person in this family wants to get out from under the constant advice and directions from her "Aunties" and is given the opportunity by her grandmother.  Will she run into more problems than she can handle by herself?  Loved this book.  I haven't read a book by this author that I don't love.

I then started Killing Custer by Margaret Coel.  This is a Wind River Mystery, #17. with Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden.  A Custer impersonator rides in a parade in Lander, close to the Wind River Reservation and is killed there.  Everyone assumes an Indian killed him, and even Father John and Vicky start to have doubts....  Again, I enjoy these mysteries.  This one also has an exciting ending.

I have now started Quite a Year For Plums, by Bailey White.  In this a group of really quirky people live with love and respect for each other (much of the time).  They recognize the quirks in each other, but do they recognize them in themselves?  At first I thought I was going to be bored silly, but now I'm intrigued wondering what they will do next.

Finished VAMPIRE ACADEMY

 

I really enjoyed this.  I'm sure it is classified as a YA, but this nearly 80 year old  is hooked.  The 'verse is new and unlike any vampire book I've read.  There is teen-age angst, but there is also triumph and tragedy enough to keep me reading.  After the original book, there were several more stories which can serve as background and further adventures.  Don't skip them...they may have been even better than the book.

I have now just barely started The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff.  She doesn't write one series of books forever.  She has lots of three, four, and five book series....several of which I've read and all of those I have enjoyed.  This is the first of a three book series which I am looking forward to.

Finished AN ECHO IN THE BONE

 

I do enjoy these books.  Difficult to believe since I am reading them so slowly.  I am now pretty much caught up with the tv show, but tv is about to zoom past me.  But there is so much more in the books than is in the tv series.  Exciting stuff, family stuff, terrifying stuff, and gentle caring stuff.  Books are better, as always.

I have now begun and finished a book in a new mystery series (new to me) and I seem to have started with the second book in the series.  I'll catch the first one eventually.  Though it has a lot of 20 something sexual angst, which these days I find kind of boring, I thought the mystery was pretty good.  Set in a New England seaside village known for a history of pirate activity, it is possible I loved it in part because I am familiar with the area.

I have now just barely started Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead.  It looks to be a whole new Vampire 'verse and a whole new series (to me.)  We shall see how I did with this.

Finished I , CLAUDIUS and started the seventh book in THE OUTLANDER series

Long and boring to me because it sounded like someone's family gossip from beginning to end. At the same time, I do think I learned a lot about the first three emperorers after Julius Caesar died.

I have now started An Echo In the Bone, the 7th book in The Outlander Series.  It picks up after Jamie's and Claire's house burns down with an accidental tragedy which is probably incidental to the story but is disturbing to Jaime, Claire and Ian.  Jaime is thinking of going to Scotland to return Ian and get his printing press.  I'm thinking something may interfere with his plans (the American Revolution.)

And Still More Books Since I Got Out of the Hospital

The Route that Takes You Home, by Melanie Lageschult is a new mystery series (Mailbox Mysteries) by the same author whose Seasons series about life on a small farm has me so enrapt in my old age.  This new series features a mail carrier who realizes that a house is empty that probably shouldn't be.  The elderly man is missing.  We meet some of the same characters that populate the Seasons series, and a whole lot of new ones.  I enjoyed revisiting this 'verse.

I then read Night of the White Buffalo, another book in the Wind River Mysteries series by Margaret Coel.  The white buffalo is sacred to the Indians of the reservation and the exploitation of this for money made more than my blood boil.  Father O'Malley and Vicky to the rescue!

The next book I read is Dying Breath, the 21st book in Heather Graham's Krewe of Hunters series.  

A new serial killer has shown up who seems to be copying the murders of a person who is definitely in jail.  Vicky Preston is called in to consult since she was an intended victim of the original murderer.  And also, she as well as the members of the Krewe can see ghosts who can be quite helpful in their own way to solving murders.

I am now reading I, Claudius, a fictional autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, destined to become Emperor of Rome despite himself.  The book starts with biographies of the people who surround him as he is growing up as well as what he knows of his father.  Claudius is derided by his Uncle Augustus (current emperor) and his Aunt Livia who believe that, since he stutters and is sickly that he is also stupid.  There are people who see the truth and befriend him, though.  Much of the first part of the book reads like a gossip column about the ruling class.

I must add that I am reading very slowly because I am also trying to catch up on all the summer cook shows I missed while ill as well as the goings on as we close in on the election.